Team helps women who served with the military

All across the nation, 15 volunteer teams from Veteran Emergency Transition Services (VETS) Canada took part in the second annual In Her Boots campaign Saturday.

This boots-on-the-ground initiative is focused on women veterans in need and coincides with International Women’s Day, with the teams walking the streets and visiting shelters to find if any veterans are in need.

“Our purpose is to see if there are any veterans who have fallen through the cracks and to hook them up with Veterans Canada, to see what services they may be entitled to,” said Christine Bannerman, a volunteer and military veteran with more than 30 years of experience.

The Edmonton area is one of the largest regions and is the most active region for veterans in need, said Pete Howell, field operations manager with VETS Canada.

“We also support the families because they’re part of the equation. When the veterans are going through their issues, the families are a part of that,” said Howell.

Our purpose is to see if there are any veterans who have fallen through the cracks

In Edmonton, a local VETS team visited the Women’s Emergency Accommodation Centre (WEAC) women’s shelter to see if there were any veterans in need and to create a dialogue.

“We have women veterans who may have compartmentalized what happened to them earlier in their career and it seems to be bubbling to the top ... and (we see) if we can connect with these women and get them whatever they may require,” said Bannerman.

While visiting WEAC the team was told that the facility is full and has an 11- to 12-person waiting list to get into the shelter. They didn’t meet any veterans while at the shelter, however they learned that women coming in are not normally asked if they’ve been in service. That could change. “They may figure a way to ask that question without being direct,” said Bannerman.

VETS Canada was started in Halifax in 2010-11 by Canadian veteran Jim Lowther.

“Our veterans are all ages these days ... and some of our young guys are not dealing with everything that they saw,” said Bannerman.

Now the non-profit has hundreds of volunteers that work within the community to help veterans.

Persons who would like to volunteer or donate can visit vetscanada. org/get-involved.php